DarkClan One-shot's
by kawaii-nyan-kitty
Summary: These are my one-shot's for DarkClan! Please read and enjoy!
1. Kits 1

**These are a couple of one-shot's for DarkClan.**

_A kit treated badly grows up evil, but a kit treated well turns out good._

"Has Palekit opened her eyes yet? If she has, can we go play outside?" my brother, Sunkit, asked. Even without my eyes open, I could tell from his voice that he is both impatient and kind. My brother had taken after my father, Leafclaw. Leafclaw was a senior warrior who was respected by all, and if the deputy died (he was very sick), he would've been next in line. I hoped that before I became an apprentice, I would be the daughter of Leafstar, leader of ThunderClan. Not that I wanted Stonestar to die.

Heatherstrike, my mother, told Sunkit with a hiss of annoyance, "No, she hasn't, Sunkit. Now why don't you leave her alone or go play with the apprentices or something. We want some peace and quiet around here." Heatherstrike was normally really nice, friendly, and peppy, but ever since Sunkit opened his eyes, Heatherstrike has treated him horribly.

I tried to open my eyes. I was just so sick of everyone talking and having fun around me, and Heatherstrike and Leafclaw wouldn't let me outside until my eyes were open. My eyelids seemed like they were stuck to my face with cobwebs. _Soon, _I told myself. _Soon._

One day, I woke up early, and it was the warmest day. I couldn't smell Sunkit. He must've been outside. Even inside the nursery, I could feel the sun's rays shining on me, and I lay on my back and soaked up the warmth. I heard an apprentice, from all the times he has gotten in trouble I assumed that it was Ashpaw. "It's so nice out, you guys!" He called out to his friends. "Come out and enjoy the sun! We should go hunting!"

That was the last straw. I fought the imaginary cobwebs that concealed my eyes, and suddenly an orange ray blasted into my face. I looked around. A russet-colored she-cat smelled exactly like Heatherstrike, so I unsheathed a single claw and prodded her in the side. "Mama, look! I opened my eyes!"

My mother yawned, turned to look at me, and blinked sleep out of her eyes. When she saw my eyes open, she gasped. "Your eyes! They're a beautiful blue, like your father's! They match wonderfully with your creamy-colored pelt! I'm glad you didn't turn out like... Sunkit." She added the last word with a snarl, turning her head to glare out of the nursery.

"What's wrong with Sunkit?" I asked. Heatherstrike glanced at me again, coldness lighting her beautiful green eyes.

"Your brother," she snarled, "is a demon. Right as he was born, the medicine cat fell into a daze. She said that StarClan had sent a prophecy about Sunkit. The prophecy was weird, it went like this:

_"__A kit treated badly grows up evil, but a kit treated well turns out good. _I don't really know what it means, but it must have something to do with Sunkit. With those evil eyes of his–– one's green and one's orange–– who knows what kind of evil he has planned for the downfall of our Clan."

Suddenly Sunkit burst into the den, his eyes shining happily, and his golden fur fluffed. "Palekit! You should open your eyes now, it's great outside––" But Heatherstrike cut him off.

"Your sister already has her eyes open. You should be faster next time. If you aren't fast enough, you'll just weigh the Clan down." She snorted, and added in a louder voice, so it was echoing across the walls of the nursery, "As if you aren't weighing the Clan down enough already."

Sunkit glanced at the ground, his face a clear expression of hurt. "Well, if you want to, Palekit, we could go outside. It's really pretty..." his voice trailed off, but he looked at me hopefully.

"Of course we can play," I mewed happily, while Heatherstrike let out a grunt of annoyance. I sent a glare at her, and she stared innocently at me. "Why don't we go outside right now? You can introduce me to everyone, like our father, and Stonestar, or the elders..."

Sunkit looked astonished. "Uh... of course we can go and meet everyone. I'm sure they'd love to meet you..." He added in a barely audible whisper, "Because they seemed to hate me..." Poor Sunkit! He must have been through a lot.

We went outside together, and every head was turned toward us. The heads that were turned toward me had friendly gazes, though the heads turned toward Sunkit had their jaws open in a fierce snarl. Almost immediately, a beautiful silver she-cat came up to me and dipped her head towards me. I looked carefully to my left, and saw Sunkit's eyes gleaming with love. Sunkit had a crush on this cat!

"Hi, Palekit! I've heard so much about you. I'm Lakepaw." She took a quick and careful glance toward Sunkit. Lakepaw looked back at me, and meowed again, "I could show you around the camp. Just me and you!" And she whispered in my ear, "Why don't we get away from your freakish brother."

"Don't call my brother a freak," I meowed quietly, but in a louder voice, "Yes, I'll go with you. I'll eat some fresh kill with you, Sunkit?"

"Of... of course!" Sunkit stammered, still staring at Lakepaw, "I'll see you there! I don't mind, really. I spend most of my days alone, anyway." I immediately felt guilty, but Lakepaw put her tail on my shoulder and forcefully steered me around the camp, showing me every crook and nanny of it. And when a warrior saw us, they congratulated me on opening my eyes. Even Stonestar put his tail around my shoulder.

Soon, it was time for fresh kill. I chose a vole from the pile and walked over to Sunkit, who was sitting at the very edge of camp.

"Hey Sunkit!" I meowed happily. "How was your day? Mine was awesome. Do you want to share this vole? Great, I bet you've had it before. I hope it's delicious!"

Sunkit delicately took one bite of vole, then another. Pretty soon, he was wolfing down the entire piece of prey, but I didn't mind. I still had Heatherstrike's milk. But suddenly I heard Heatherstrike's yowl from across the clearing, and I could see dark green eyes glaring at Sunkit.

"Sunkit!" Heatherstrike yowled, "Shame on you! Eating all of poor Palekit's prey! That's it! Only two bites of prey a day until you die! I hope your death comes soon, because we all hate you!" Loud murmurs of agreement broke out among the rest of the cats. I stayed as silent as possible.

My brother only flattened his ears and glared at the ground, his mismatched eyes gleaming with hatred. "You should go," he muttered to me quietly. "They won't want you to stay around a demon-kit, like me." I opened my mouth, as if to object, but Sunkit brushed his fluffy golden tail across my mouth, making me be silent. "Just go, okay?" I rubbed my muzzle against Sunkit's fur, but I left all the same, towards our family.

...

Soon enough, it was time for our apprentice ceremony. Heatherstrike groomed me furiously, making sure that no tuft of fur was out of place. Sunkit looked way different. My creamy pelt was slick and clean, while Sunkit's pelt was covered in dirt, and bedraggled. Every time I made a struggle to clean his pelt, Heatherstrike zoomed in and told me that Sunkit should clean his own pelt. And I couldn't? I glared at her, but it made no difference.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here under the Highledge for a Clan Meeting." Stonestar's call sounded all through the camp, and I scrambled to my paws, walking out of the nursery with my head held high proudly. I could worry about Sunkit later. Right now, I had to worry about who my mentor was going to be, what we did first, meeting my denmates, the list was endless!

I took my place under the Highledge, and Sunkit nervously sat next to me, eyes narrowed and his ears flattened to his head. He kept on shifting his paws, looking up at Stonestar fearfully. Sunkit kept on whispering, "I don't want to do this! I don't want to be an apprentice!" But why? Every kit wanted to be an apprentice, from the start when they found out what an apprentice was!

"From this day forward," Stonestar started, staring at me, "This apprentice will be called Palepaw. I will be her mentor, and I hope I can pass down everything I learned down to her." He leaped off of the Highledge and touched noses with me. I was bubbling with excitement. Sure, Leafclaw wasn't leader yet, but I had the leader as my mentor! Then I wondered who Sunkit's mentor was going to be.

"From this day forward," Stonestar meowed again, "This apprentice will be called Sunpaw. Heatherstrike!" He called out, and immediately felt bad for Sunpaw. He had the cat that hated him the most for his mentor! How was Heatherstrike going to act towards him now?

Heatherstrike padded forward, eyes burning with hatred directed at Sunpaw, and looked up at Stonestar for him to continue. "Heatherstrike, you gained bravery and loyalty from your mentor, and I expect you to pass down all you know to Sunpaw." Sunpaw hesitantly stretched his neck to touch noses with Heatherstrike, but Heatherstrike jabbed her claws in his side.

Stonestar led the chant. "Palepaw! Palepaw! Palepaw!" Why was it that they were only cheering for me? That was horrible! I started to try yowling over the screeching so I could cheer for Sunpaw, but I couldn't hear my own voice. I looked over at Sunpaw, and mouthed, _I'm sorry, _to him. He just dipped his head towards me respectfully.

The ThunderClan leader came over to us and Heatherstrike. "Alright, should we get started then? What do you think we should do––" Heatherstrike cut him off disrespectfully.

"Battle training," she snapped. "Come on, you lazy lump," she added, whipping her tail across Sunpaw's muzzle. "Let's go."

We swiveled across the forest to where we train. There was sand on the forest floor, perfect for battle training today. Heatherstrike led Sunpaw, and Stonestar led me to the middle of the sandy floor. Stonestar and Heatherstrike meowed in unison, "Alright, let's see what you can do."

I nervously circled Sunpaw, waiting for him to make the first move. Though he wasn't allowed to eat as much as me, he was still a tiny bit bulky, so it made sense for him to strike first, giving me time to analyze him, and to figure out what I had to do to stop him.

Sunpaw suddenly leaped at me. I snake slithered under him, and when he landed, I pounced onto his back and brought him to the ground. But Sunpaw wouldn't give up like that. He slithered under my weak grip, and tried to hit my tendons with his paws, so I would be brought to the ground.

Luckily, I had already stabilized myself for that attack, and just stood there strongly, before racing around Sunpaw, making his head follow me, until he got dizzy and fell over. I stood on top of him triumphantly, glad that it was such a quick and short battle.

When I let Sunpaw back up, Heatherstrike was waiting for him. She howled, "That was horrible, Sunpaw! From the very start, you were a failure! You will never be as good as anyone. I was right! You'll just drag down the entire Clan with your worthlessness!"

...

Faster than any cat would've thought possible, it was time for our warrior ceremony. Stonestar again called us under the Highledge, had us say our vows to the Clan, and began with my new name.

"Palepaw, from this moment on, you shall be known as Paledawn. StarClan admires your spirit and your loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." He rest his muzzle onto my head, and I licked his shoulder respectfully and stepped back, eagerly awaiting Sunpaw's name.

"Sunpaw, from this moment on, you shall be known as Sun-eye. StarClan admires... uh, I don't know _what_ StarClan admires about you, Sun-eye!" Heatherstrike purred in cruel and cold amusement, but I silenced her with a glare, letting Stonestar continue. "Anyway, we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." Murmurs of disagreement broke out, but Stonestar silenced them.

"Paledawn, you will protect the Clan tonight. Meeting dismissed."

I went to share fresh-kill with Sun-eye in the corner of the camp, like always, and he actually beckoned me closer with his tail. He whispered in my ear, "I've had it. Tonight, I'm going to kill Stonestar. I know that he's on his last life. Then, I'm going to kill all of those who were unkind and cruel to me."

"Sun-eye!" I gasped, "But... the first cat that they're going to suspect is you!"

"That's true," said Sun-eye, "But they love teasing me so much that they can't exile me. I'll probably exile myself when I'm done."

...

I was guarding the camp, when I heard an awful screech. I peeked out of my hiding spot to see what was going on, to see that Stonestar's body was being dragged into the center of the camp. _Oh, Sun-eye, _I thought sadly. _Just what do you think you're about to get yourself into?_

Stonestar's mate, Smallsong, looked up at Sun-eye first. "You!" she snarled. "I know that you're the one who killed him!" Sun-eye returned the glare with a steady stare. Heatherstrike went and murmured something in Smallsong's ear, and eventually Smallsong calmed down.

"All–– alright," she meowed. "I hope that this doesn't happen again." But only I knew what more Sun-eye had planned.

Everyday, a cat died, until only Sun-eye and I were left. Sun-eye approached me in the middle of the night, with a bloodlust in his eyes. I knew that this would happen. Sun-eye would be so used to killing that he would start to love it. At least, I knew, that I would be the last one to go.

"I'm sorry, _dear sister, _that it has to turn out this way," meowed Sun-eye calmly. "But, I'm afraid, that you must go to StarClan! Unlike the others. I made sure that they got into the Dark Forest." _What? What does he mean?_

"Goodbye, Paledawn," murmured Sun-eye even half-sadly. "Wasn't very nice knowing you. Any of the old ThunderClan cats."

And with that, he tore a gash in my neck, and I saw darkness.


	2. Kits 2

**Thanks to my reviewers! You guys rock ;-) **

_Kits have to wait a full six moons before becoming apprentices because upon their sixth moon they suddenly become more intelligent and capable._

I hated our leader. She was mean, cruel, and disobeyed the warrior code constantly. I don't believe that she was really chosen by Owlstar, oh, no. I believe that she killed the deputy in the battle with RiverClan, then right before moon-high, killed the leader and took his very last life. Then she went out and lied. She said that right before StarClan claimed Owlstar, Owlstar named her as deputy, so now she was leader of WindClan. I didn't believe one word of it. Blossomstar deserved to die. Especially after what happened.

Even with Blossomstar as leader, I was happy. Even if my leader was old and senile, I was happy. My mate, Briarbreeze, had just given birth to five healthy kits. Could you believe it? Five! Three toms, two named them Shadykit, Flowerkit, Treekit, Darkkit, and Wishingkit. They were certainly a rambunctious bunch, but they were definitely worth it to have. Everyday, I strutted around the camp, my chest held high, bragging in a way that didn't really count as bragging. ("Did you hear Darkkit yowl? He has such strong lungs!"

One day, though, Blossomstar's deputy, a kind and young tom that Blossomstar had a crush on named Blackpool, was giving out patrols as normal. My ears perked up when I heard my name. I usually spent all day playing with my kits, so getting to be outside in the glorious breeze was just so tempting. Blackpool meowed, "Sandysky, you'll be on patrol with Branchclaw. It's a hunting patrol, so I expect the patrol to bring back lots of prey."

"Yes, Blackpool," I chorused along with the rest of the patrol. The jet-black deputy nodded his head and purred in satisfaction. I thought about what would happen if Blackpool became leader. He'd probably lead our Clan out of this warrior code breaking era. I glared at Blossomstar, who was yelling at the apprentices for only bringing back herbs for our medicine cat, Swallowsong, and not bringing back any prey. I knew that if the worst happened in leaf-bare, we would be thankful to have those herbs.

Blackpool spotted my sudden lack in attention, then followed my gaze over to Blossomstar. "Oh, yes," he sighed loudly. "I forgot to tell her, for the fifth time in the last two sunrises, that prey is for eating." For, right as he spoke, Blossomstar had grabbed a small rabbit off of the fresh-kill pile, and proceeded to start poking it, then started to play with it. She bounced around with the dead rabbit, before suddenly falling into a crouch, in which she heaved, heaved, heaved, and then vomited bile onto the rabbit.

"Ew..." Blackpool and I muttered in unison. "Anyway!" Blackpool mewed, becoming all demanding again, "You should leave with the patrol now. I'll take care of this." Our patrol watched him walk over to Blossomstar and start lecturing her, before turning tail and padding in a long line out of the camp, and into the most beautiful moorland that had ever showed up on the earth.

After breathing in the scent of the moorland, and relishing the feeling of the breeze against my sandy-colored fur, I turned to Branchclaw to await my orders.

"Alright, friends," Branchclaw began, the breeze ruffling his short white fur, "I think that we should split up into two groups. When your group has seven pieces of prey, meet back here." Branchclaw took his time to size us all up. I felt nervous. I hoped that he was going to put me with one of the cats I liked well, because I didn't think I could hunt that well anymore. Those kits kept me too distracted. Though I couldn't stop loving them.

"Okay, Longfur, you lead your group with Brightspots and Yellowlight over near the ShadowClan border." The two toms and said she-cat started to run, then burst into a sprint towards the ShadowClan border on the left side of my face. Branchclaw continued, "Okay, I guess I'm with Waterpool and Sandysky. Great! Let's head over to the RiverClan border. I was so happy. Waterpool was my best friend during apprenticeship, and still was.

Waterpool fell into place on my side. "Hi, Sandysky!" she mewed. "Did I tell you about my apprentice, Fallingpaw? He is so nice, and always obey's orders. He never even put a paw out of line on the patrol yesterday; I was so thankful. I didn't want to be embarrassed or anything, because this is my first apprentice, and I didn't want to fail Blackpool, or anything, because he's the one who gave me this appentice. Which reminds me, Blossomstar seems to be getting older, I think she'll retire soon. She already acts like a grumpy old elder, ever since that one time..." I started to drone her out. Waterpool was like a bird when she started to chat. She spoke quickly, loudly, and never seemed to stop.

Branchclaw turned around from in front of us to look sternly, yet amusedly, at Waterpool. "Geez, you're going to scare all the prey away from here to the gathering island with that loud voice of yours! Try to quiet down, we're almost there." But Branchclaw's eyes were full of love for his mate.

My friend shut up quickly, and for which I was thankful. I wanted some peace and quiet just for a little bit, was that to much to ask? Then again, with Waterpool, it was. But right as she was about to open her mouth again, Branchclaw meowed without turning around, "Don't even think about it." It was like he had eyes on the back of his head! Branchclaw continued, "We're there. Okay, let's try to find a rabbit or two. Remember, we need––" He broke off, sniffing the air. I put my nose to the air, and I smelled rabbit.

I watched hungrily as Branchclaw ran after the retreating rabbit, but sniffed the air again and smelled a water vole. Rare for WindClan, but food is food, am I right? I crouched down, watching as the water vole chewed something in his mouth, then slowly inched forwards, lifting each paw off of the ground in slow motion, so as not to startle it. Then I waggled my hindquarters, and pounced, biting the small creature's neck and tasting the tangy blood as I killed it.

I walked back towards Waterpool with my catch in my mouth. I tapped Waterpool on her shoulder with my paw, and the slender silver she-cat turned around and saw the deceased water vole.

"Oh, wow!" she gasped, taking in the body of the animal. "I've never caught a water vole before! You're so lucky that you did. I still have to catch my first prey, and Branchclaw is already hunting for his third catch. I'm so happy to have such a talented mate. Maybe someday we'll have kits, and they'll be just as talented as he is, and just as beautiful as me! Well, better get going! I'll be in so much trouble if I'm not quick, and––" A loud screech of pain cut her off.

Branchclaw's body appeared from far away, and judging from how quickly it was getting here, he was sprinting. He reached where Waterpool and I were, and skidded to a halt, making grass fly up in a flurry. Waterpool immediately rushed to his side. "What's wrong?" she asked, her fur bristling.

"Bad––idea––to––split––apart––" Branchclaw panted. "Shadow––Clan––attacking––border––" ShadowClan was attacking my Clanmates! "How many warriors are there, Branchclaw?" I asked.

"About––five––we––can––take––them––on––" Branchclaw gasped. I rushed to his side. "Sorry, Branchclaw, but we've no time to waste! We have to sprint to get there, are you okay with that? We're WindClan warriors after all..."

We raced across the moorland, paws pounding against the ground, no stopping for breath or anything. I felt as if my heart and lungs were going to burst, but my Clanmates are more important. When we reached the ShadowClan border, we saw one of their filthy warriors with their yellow fangs above Brightspots, Yellowlight, and Longfur's necks. I knew that ShadowClan warriors were dark, but to stoop as low as killing warriors?... How ghastly!

"Well, well, well," said one of the ShadowClan cats, spotting us, with a sneer in their voice, a dark brown and black tom with cruel amber eyes. "What do we have here? More scrawny WindClan cats? Ha! We can defeat you easily. We'll take your territory, too, just for fun." I bristled. We needed this territory to survive! We'd die without it!

"Not today," I snarled, leaping onto the tom with his fangs above Brightspots's neck. "WindClan, attack!" I didn't have much rights to say that, but I thought it was necessary.

Almost right as I leaped on the bulky tom, I realized my mistake. He was much larger than I am! I should've waited for him to make the first move! How in StarClan's name did I become a warrior? I scolded myself, but I really didn't need to. The ShadowClan warrior gripped his jaw around my neck and flung me around, making me hit one of the few trees in our territory.

I quickly got to my feet, this time taking my time in waiting for him to make the first move. He did, striking a paw out at me, and his eyes were so attracted to his paw that I leaped out of the paw's reach easily, and pounced onto the bulky warriors back, digging my claws into his flesh and drawing blood.

Yowling, the ShadowClan warrior fell onto his back, crushing the air out of me, but started to roll, forcing himself to carry my weight with his. By the time he got up, he was panting furiously. I just stood up in triumph, and analyzed the figure before leaping over him, but keeping my eyes on him, so he'd think I was aiming for him again.

The warrior rolled onto his back, his head facing toward me, _but his belly in wide view._ I immediately went for it, scratching his belly until he was bleeding furiously and begging for mercy. So, being the nice tom cat I am, I let him stand up. He fooled me though. He was perfectly fine, trying to use the same tactic as I had, leaping over me, but keeping his eye on me.

Rabbit-brain. Didn't he know not to use the same move two times in a row? I dodged him easily, then, with a running start, rammed into the tendon's in his legs, making him topple onto his side, which I easily scratched, all the while thinking about the persistence this cat had. Just amazing, I marveled.

I bounced off of him, using his head as a jumping pad, and let him scramble to his paws, and dash away yowling in fear. I looked around me, and it seemed like the other WindClan cats had managed to fight off their opponents way before I had, and were just watching me for fun.

"Victory for WindClan!" Branchclaw yowled happily, and the rest of us raised our voices to meet his. But as if interuptions weren't starting become really annoying, Lilacpaw, a small grayish apprentice, (when she's in the sun, her fur looks nearly purple!) apprentice came and looked straight in my eye, breathing heavily.

Sighing, I asked, "What is it, Lilacpaw?"

Lilacpaw looked at me, and meowed, "Blossomstar called a Clan meeting. She said any cat that doesn't show up will be killed!" Then, in a tiny whisper in my ear, she added, "That cat is crazy, don't you think?" But looked absolutely terrified to be saying that out loud. I however, was proud of her. It took her awhile for her to start thinking like the rest of us!

"Wait," I mewed. "What's the meeting for?"

"Your kits," Lilacpaw meowed, "Well, at least, some of them. They'll be getting their apprenticeship right as we speak."

_"__What?!"_ I screeched. "They're only three moons? This is against the warrior code!And what do you mean 'Some of them?'"

The small apprentice mewed, frightened by my sudden change of emotion, "Well, Shadykit and Treekit snuck out of camp while you were gone. They went and actually caught a rabbit, I know. How amazing is that?" I felt a sudden burst of pride for my wonderful kits.

Lilacpaw continued, "And you know Blossomstar, so obsessed with prey... So she congratulated the kits on being the only cats to actually _get prey_..."

"Hey!" Branchclaw interrupted. "Go back to where we hunted! We've got loads of prey!"

The apprentice ignored him. "Come on, she'll kill us, literally, if we don't hurry!" So I started to sprint back to camp; you can go and fetch the prey again, but you can't get your life once it's lost. Lilacpaw sprinted besides me, her long grayish- purple fur slicked back against her body, fighting against the breeze but losing.

We skidded to a halt in camp, and instantly every head turned towards us. Blossomstar was standing on her meeting ledge, glaring down at us. Geez, one time she's playing with a rabbit, the next, she's glaring death berries, fangs, and claws onto you!

Blossomstar meowed sarcastically, "Well, I'm glad that you finally showed up!" She sniffed, lifting her chin. "Well, I forget the apprentice ceremony, but I know that Shadykit and Treekit get to become apprentices." Over near the nursery, my other kits, Flowerkit, Darkkit, and Wishingkit, were mewling their hearts out pitifully, while Brairbreeze tried and failed to calm them.

"We want to become apprentices, too!" mewed Wishingkit sadly, his bright blue eyes staring up at me so sadly I thought I was going to collapse, but I managed to pull myself together.

"No, you don't," I whispered calmly. "You have to wait until you're six moons, Blossomstar's just... I don't know... _defying StarClan_?" I finished angrily, wondering how that piece of fox-dung got her nine lives. Wait. What if she didn't get her nine lives? What if I could kill her just with a single bite to the neck? Then I stopped. I had based all of my hopes on a "what if".

Our horrible leader continued, "Anyway, Shadykit is now Shadypaw, I will be her mentor." I gasped in horror. One of my daughters being taught by that monstrosity! Briarbreeze's light red fur fluffed up, her bright blue eyes staring in utter shock up at Blossomstar. Blossomstar payed no attention, instead mewed, "And Treekit will be mentored by Blackpool." Our leader purred flirtatiously at Blackpool, who touched noses with my son.

"Dismissed! Now all of you go hunting, because this fresh-kill pile is miniscule!" She gestured with her tail towards the extremely tall pile of dead animals. Blossomstar leaped off of the ledge to lead Shadypaw out into the moorland, followed by Treepaw and Blackpool.

I didn't know how I was going to keep an eye on my kits, with basically no trees and few bushes, but I was going to positively make sure that nothing could go wrong.

Blossomstar, Blackpool, Treepaw, and Shadypaw were strolling on the moorland, when suddenly on the breeze I smelled dog. I opened my mouth to yowl out a warning, but remembered that I was trying to spy, and that Blackpool knew what to do about dogs.

Blackpool sniffed the air, just like I did. "Dog!" he yelled. "You two," he said, flicking his tail toward the apprentices, "Go back to camp and get some warriors."

Shadypaw protested, "But come on! I'm sure I can fight it! Here, watch this." When the dark-brown dog reached the small patrol, Shadypaw unsheathed her claws and poked the dog in the nose, so mini droplets of blood were dripping onto the moorland floor. The dog seemed otherwise fine.

"Oh, come on..." Shadypaw moaned. "That was supposed to work!" Treepaw lightly tapped Shadypaw on the shoulder with his tail. "Of course it wouldn't work! Besides, this is how you are _supposed_ to do it!" He snuck under the dogs leg and gave him a nip, hanging onto the dogs leg with just his jaws. Confused, the dog started to flail around his legs, throwing off Treepaw and, how ironically, making Treepaw hit one of the few trees. I could hear the snap of Treepaw's neck from all the way over where I was hiding.

My daughter gasped, and shrieked, "Treepaw!" She ran over to her brother, prodded him in various places, as if trying to wake him up. "Treepaw!" She fell to the ground, realizing he was dead, and started to lick her brothers pelt, sadly mewling and moaning. "StarClan, why me? Why did you take my brother?" _StarClan is trying to punish Blossomstar, but failing, _I thought mentally.

Blackpool and Blossomstar were paralyzed in shock. Or, considering Blossomstar's oldness, was probably having a joint malfunction.

The dog, however, found its time to strike, picked up Shadypaw in his huge drooling jaws, and snapped his jaws, killing my daughter too. I could not take it anymore. I rushed at the dog, yowling a battle cry, and started to flay the dog where he stood, all the time yelling, "You––stupid––_beast!––_Killing––my––kits!" Until the dog bolted away from me, tail between his legs.

I picked up my kits small bodies, ignoring the deputy and leader, and headed home, unable to think of the vigil, and how Briarbreeze would react.

…

It had been hard, but I finally gotten over my kits deaths over the course of three moons. Blossomstar had been killed by who knows what (but I'm assuming it was Blackpool), and my other kits, Flowerkit, Wishingkit, and Darkkit were finally ready to become apprentices. Real apprentices, I might add.

…

Blackstar had allowed me to accompany the apprentices and their mentors, so I could keep an eye on my kits. But, repeating the course of history, a huge dog, a tan dog this time, not a dark brown one, started to head towards the apprentices.

"Wishingpaw, Darkpaw, and Flowerpaw. Go and get some warriors. _Now. _Listen to me. I couldn't stand it if you died, too."

My kits took a couple of glances at me, turned, and ran back towards camp. They listened. At six moons, they must have become more intelligent. I looked up at the sky. Would Shadypaw and Treepaw turned out better if they were six moons at their apprenticeship?


	3. Apprentice 1

**These just keep on coming, don't they?**

_Two wrongs don't make a right._

"Come on, Bramblepaw! How about we go hunting?" My best friend Poolpaw prodded me in the side with one of her thorn-sharp claws. Poolpaw was slick and silver-colored apprentice with dark pools for eyes. Poolpaw and I were both apprentices for RiverClan, the most clever and well-fed Clan out of all the Clans, but this leaf-bare, there were barely any fish where we hunted!

"But I'm hungry," I muttered, "Can't we eat first?" At this, Poolpaw looked mortified, staring at me. She opened her jaws wide, and exclaimed, "Bramblepaw! You know that it's against the warrior code to eat something without catching some prey for the elders, queens, and kits first! Plus, it's leaf-bare, so everybody is going to be struggling even more, so we should go out hunting more frequently!" Poolpaw seemed to think that the warrior code was more important than breathing! I couldn't believe her sometimes.

I sighed loudly. I wasn't going to hunt any better hungry, but I gave in anyways, but I wanted to go out and think first. "Fine. But _you_ have to go and ask Fallowfur and Rushingwater. I have to warm up my legs if I'm going to have to hunt things other than fish. Do you mind if I go to the small pond?" Poolpaw nodded her head vigorously. "I don't mind! Go ahead and run, and I'll see you there in a bit!"

The pond was near the edge of the border that connected with ThunderClan. That was the only reason I hated the beautiful shimmering pond. ThunderClan always just _had_ to stick their nose into everybody else's business, no matter how hard the rest of the Clans tried to ward them off.

Today, the pond was frozen over. The ice had a glaze-y figure, like one of the dead kits in StarClan had just woken up from a nap before freezing the pond, showing out their tiredness. I started to run around the pond, before spotting a long-furred dark gray apprentice––from ThunderClan, no less, I could smell their stench from here–– settling down right over the border, laying down, her eyes slitted and her fur puffed up to keep herself warm.

Trudging through the snow with great difficulty, I made it to where she was napping over the border, sat down, and wrapped my tail over my paws. "Hey!" I called down to her, my voice vibrating a tiny bit with annoyance. The she-cat apprentice opened her eyes––a brilliant bright orange–– to glare at me. "What do you want?" she snarled, and I instantly regretted awaking her.

"Well," I mewed quietly, my voice trembling with fear; the ThunderClan apprentice had unsheathed her claws, "You're kinda over the border, and..." I trailed off, finishing lamely. The gray apprentice scoffed at me.

"So?" she hissed, sitting up, "This isn't just a world for RiverClan, you know." Her nostrils flared, and her orange eyes were oddly threatening, like she was daring me to keep on talking. I took on the challenge, thinking about how ThunderClan was the Clan the meddled with everybody else's business. I told her that, and she hissed angrily, before calming down.

"You know," she mused, "You're pretty rude. Do you have any friends? Because if you do, I'd find that hard to believe."

I was completely outraged. "Of course I have friends!" I yowled, probably loud enough for any cat to hear us, "Who are you to ask me that? Plus, it doesn't seem like you're much nicer." The gray apprentice first replied with an airy "Touche," then replied again.

"My name is Squirrelpaw, if you _must _know." I looked at the apprentice, trying to find any signs that gave her the look of a squirrel, but couldn't find any that I could recognize. "You don't look anything like a squirrel," I remarked, looking her over once more.

"That's true," mewed Squirrelpaw, "But you don't exactly look like a bramble, yourself. Your fur is all scraggly and russet-colored. Which leaves me to ask: are you being fed well enough?" I decided not to answer that, instead looking on the other thing she said.

"How did you know my name was Bramblepaw?" I asked, my fur fluffing up suspiciously, and I looked at her through narrowed eyes. Squirrelpaw let out an eerie _mrrow_ of amusement.

"I have my ways," said the ThunderClan apprentice mysteriously. "Now you didn't exactly answer my question." Squirrelpaw took an exaggerated breath to repeat what she said before, enunciating every letter like I was a tiny kit that could barely hear. "Are. You. Being. Fed. Well. Bramblepaw?" This really made me hate that long-furred apprentice even more. I tried not to spit in her face. But I felt myself weaken.

Then I looked into Squirrelpaw's light orange eyes, which glowed with curiosity, and also, did I see some hints of comfort? Surely not!

"I guess you got me," I started to meow slowly and embarrassedly. "I'm actually starving, dying slowly. But I must follow the warrior code! I can't eat until I hunt for the elders, queens, and kits!" Squirrelpaw looked at me like I was stupid, cocking her head to one side.

"Are you kidding me? You can't help the Clan if you're starving too!" She voiced what I was thinking earlier before. I started to agree with her, but while I did, a bit of guilt started to creep up my spine. Eventually, I decided. I was going to steal from the fresh kill pile. It wasn't going to be easy, but my father was ShadowClan, so I must have some of their sneaky blood in my veins.

…

I got back from the small pond, but without anyone knowing. Squirrelpaw had even decided to take pity on me and teach me a few of her sneaking moves. Right as she had done so, a ThunderClan patrol had appeared from around a tree, so I pretended to chase her off, but only knowing a few moves that would get me prey.

As I sneaked over to the fresh-kill pile, leaping in the clumps of snow to mask my russet-colored pelt, which stood out against the white powder. Whenever I felt the tiniest bit guilty, I pictured Squirrelpaw, and her voice in my mind, saying, _"You can't help the Clan if you're starving too!" _It fought away the small shard of regret. I decided to choose the smallest piece of prey there was, so nobody would notice, and quickly downed it in one gulp, and there was a sudden burst of energy that coursed through me.

Suddenly Poolpaw appeared at my shoulder. "What took you so long?" she asked. I was about to tell her that I had chased an annoying ThunderClan apprentice off of our border, but she stopped me by flicking her tail over my mouth. "It's okay. We're going to go on the hunting patrol right now. Fallowfur and Rushingwater said yes!"

I smiled at the mentors as we headed out of the camp. We reached the same small pond, but going closer to it, I could see that there was still fish in the pond. The ice hadn't spread fully. My mentor, which was Rushingwater, meowed, "Well, I'm glad that we came here! There are tons of fish to feed the Clan tonight! We could have a feast!"

Poolpaw jumped happily, but stopped almost immediately. "How are we supposed to break through the ice?" she asked, her whiskers drooping. Rushingwater meowed, with his friendly grin, "Like this," and he smashed his paw into the ice, creating a large hole that we could stick our paws in.

"That's brilliant!" Fallowfur, Poolpaw, and I voiced almost at the same time. I hung over the hole that Rushingwater made. "Hey, the fish are checking out the hole! This is a perfect time to catch them!" I turned to Poolpaw and the mentors. "Why don't you give it a try first! I need to see how it's done." Poolpaw was a bit older than me, so she had more experience in fishing.

My mentor looked at me, and nodded. Poolpaw stuck her paw into the water, and when she brought her shimmering paw back up, a silver fish was impaled by her claw. "Sweet! Though, we're going to have to make another hole. The fish cleared away from this one.

Fallowfur and Rushingwater both made their own fishing holes, plunging their paws into the water and coming up with the biggest fish I had ever seen! Rushingwater turned to look at me, smiling. "Why don't you give it a shot?" he asked me, but his gaze seemed to be saying, "If you're not too inexperienced."

I nervously hit my paw against the ice, creating a hole, and plunged my paw into the water. The water was freezing, and I didn't get how none of the other cats hadn't even flinched. I moved my paw around, claws unsheathed, so I could grab one of the fish, but they all escaped. Rushingwater stomped over to me, his eyes blazing. "I taught you better than _that!"_ he meowed. "Everyone else got prey. Why didn't you?"

That got me hard. I pushed my face into Rushingwater's, glaring at him. "It was an accident! Everyone makes mistakes, Rushingwater! Even you!" But Rushingwater had already pulled back from me with an alarmed expression on his face. He opened his jaws, and meowed slowly the words I hoped I never heard.

"Did you eat a fish?" he meowed quietly, looking at me. "I can smell one on your breath."

"I–I–" I stuttered, my heart pumping guiltily. "Yes. I did. I was starving, and the only way I could do something right was if I ate! I'm so sorry, Rushingwater. I let you down." I didn't even try lying. Rushingwater, since he was barely a warrior, knew all the signs of an apprentice lying.

"Go back to camp!" Rushingwater yowled unexpectedly. "Go and get the ticks off of the elders, then I'll report to Greenstar what you've done!" He started to chase me away from the pond. I ran as fast as my long fur and deep snow would let me, away from camp, towards the edge of the territory, trying to get away from that blazing, accusing glare, Fallowfur's eyes filled with shock, and Poolpaw's deep blue eyes, filled with sadness, and regret.

But running the way home, I spotted something that made me feel that StarClan was watching me specifically: A squirrel. At first I wondered, _What is a squirrel doing here in leaf-bare? Plus, squirrels are only ThunderClan's prey, not RiverClan!_ But that only made me more certain that StarClan sent it.

Stalking the russet-colored animal, I flattened my ears and made every step as slow as possible, so the squirrel wouldn't hear me instead, tramping through the snow. Then, I made my pounce, striking the squirrel with my teeth and letting its blood seep into the snow. I walked back to camp with my head held high, waiting for forgiveness to come my way.

…

A dog attacked happened, leaving many warriors and apprentices injured badly, especially Poolpaw. She was covered in blood, soaked from nose-tip to tail, trembling out of control. Fallowfur rushed her quickly to the medicine den, her eyes worried as Birdcall inspected her.

I shivered. What could've made the camp attacked? Dogs shouldn't have been able to find us in our protected and camouflaged camp. But Nettletail broke through the camp entrance, eyes wide, with his patrol behind him. His patrol had been looking for what made that dog come to camp. Greenstar stood where he calls Clan meetings, his fur bristling, awaiting the answer.

"What made this happen?" Greenstar called down to the patrol. Nettletail was not the first to speak, but instead it was Rushingwater. Immediately I knew that the answer must've been something pretty bad. Rushingwater liked being dramatic, even in bad situations.

Rushingwater took a huge gulp of air, and announced, his voice echoing loudly through the camp, "Squirrel blood. We found a trail of squirrel blood from the edge of the territory near twolegplace, to our camp." Greenstar's eyes widened even more, if it was possible.

"How can a squirrel be out in leaf-bare?" Greenstar asked. Nettletail stepped forward again, "I don't know. But what we do know is that" he paused, and flicked his tail towards the fresh-kill pile, "there is a squirrel in the fresh-kill pile." I gasped. That was the squirrel that_ I _hunted!

Before anyone else could say anything, I meowed loudly. "I hunted that squirrel. It's my fault that the camp was attacked."

"Why, though?" Rushingwater asked. "Why would you want to lead dogs to camp?"

"It wasn't on purpose!" I yowled. "When you chased me, I went the wrong way, right to the edge of the territory. I spotted a squirrel there, it must've been sent by StarClan, or something! I hunted it down, and let its blood flow onto the snow. I didn't notice that there was a trail of blood as I was coming home! I was too busy thinking about whether you would forgive me..." I trailed off, and hung my head in shame. Rushingwater pressed against me in odd comfort.

"Bramblepaw," he meowed.

"Yes?"

"_Two wrongs don't make a right._"

**This is shorter than the others, and I'm sorry! Please review!**


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